The Unknown One
by shadowofadoubt72
Summary: The Fellowship is joined by another, who is hiding something. Is she good or evil, and which side is she on in the fight for Middle Earth?*ON HOLD!!*
1. Harrasing Gimlie

Author's notes: ok, this is my first LOTR FanFic, so please, don't just tell me that my story sucks, tell me why it sucks. Please review!!! My muse won't let me write another chapter until I get at least 5 reviews!!!  
  
At this moment in time, the Fellowship consists of: Legolas:: sigh::, Aragorn, Gandalf, Faramier, Gimli, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin  
  
"Blah" is normal speak; 'Blah' is in Elvin; (Blah) is thoughts; [Blah] is author insert  
  
Chapter 1: Harassing Gimli  
  
The Fellowship of nine walked through the forest as quietly as possible. But since they had a dwarf with them, that wasn't very quiet at all.  
  
"Gimli, if I was you, I would want to learn how to walk quietly as quickly as possible," mentioned Legolas for about the hundredth time that day.  
  
"And if I were you, Elf, I would hurl myself over a cliff," said Gimli in reply.  
  
"At least we wouldn't have to hear you stomping through the forest, in that dreadful way that you are," joked Faramier.  
  
"Enough, all of you. Even if Gimli is walking as loud as dwarfs do, you don't need to add to the noise with your endless chatter. Some one might hear us," said Gandalf in that annoying voice that always ends some one having fun.  
  
"He started it," muttered Gimli as the Fellowship again fell into the silence that always came after Legolas and Faramier poked fun at Gimli.  
  
Legolas once again fell into thoughtful silence, trying to think of what to next say to Gimli, to get him angry once again. He was interrupted from his thoughtful reprieve by Aragorn walking up to him, and the Human King brushing his rough hand against the Elf's delicate one. The Elf looked over to his friend, wondering if it had been accidental or on purpose. He only saw Aragon's eyes searching the surroundings for where some one could be possibly hiding. But when the King felt eyes on him, he turned his head, and ended up staring deeply into enticing blue Elvin eyes.  
  
'Is something wrong, Legolas?' asked Aragorn of his friend.  
  
'No, I was just trying to figure out what you are thinking. Nothing more,' Legolas paused. 'My friend.'  
  
'Look, Legolas, about last night. You see, it's just that, er, well, Arwen- '  
  
'I do not want to hear you excuses. I don't care,' said Legolas as he stormed ahead to talk to Faramier.  
  
(Going to plot against Gimli again, probably. Or maybe not. Of course, after last night, I wouldn't really be surprised…)  
  
"Aragorn, how much further till we get out of this horrible forest?" asked a voice near the ground.  
  
"Not much farther, Merry. Not much further," said Aragorn as he smiled down at the little hobbits, who had surrounded him during his musing about Legolas.  
  
"Are you sure, Aragorn?? I'm starting to get hungry, and Gandalf won't let us light a fire in here. Are you sure it's not much further?" asked a desperate Pippin.  
  
"Yes, I'm positive. And remember to keep your voices down, since the sounds of this forest aren't very loud. We don't want anyone to hear or start following us. So, please keep your voices, and your stomachs, down," said Aragorn when one of the hobbits stomachs began to rumble.  
  
"Sure, Aragorn," came the murmured reply.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Unknown to the Fellowship, they had already caught the attention of someone, who was silently following them in the shadows.  
  
  
  
::dramatic music:: DUN DUN DUN!!! So, how was it?? Good for a first time?? Please r/r!!!!  
  
^_^ shadow of a doubt 


	2. It's Time

Author's Notes: Sorry about the shortness and the lateness of this chapter. I had it all written for about 3 weeks, but I never had time to type it, because of my sister's graduation party, and also because of my upcoming graduation. Please R/R  
  
And sorry about the misspell on Faramir's name. Thanks for telling me!!! So please R and R, helpful criticism is most welcome, and flamers will be laughed at and ignored.  
  
The Fellowship still has the same people as before.  
  
(Blah) is thoughts, ~*~*~* is change in view point  
  
Chapter 2: It's Time  
  
The Fellowship had once again fallen into silence, after Aragorn had once again told the 4 hobbits that they would be able to eat once they were out of the forest.  
  
Aragorn was at the front of the group, leading the way. Then came Legolas and Faramir, walking next to each other, every once in awhile murmuring to the other, which would either get a chuckle or a shake of the head. After them came the four hobbits, with Sam and Frodo next to each other and Merry and Pippin behind them. Next came Gimli, who seemed to be trying to make as much noise as possible. At the end of the group came Gandalf, who was trying to figure out what was wrong with the forest.  
  
"Aragorn, do you notice anything strange about this forest?" questioned Gandalf of Aragorn.  
  
Aragorn slowed to a stop and he looked around the forest intently. "Yes, Gandalf. Something is amiss. But I can't quite figure out what…" he trailed off, as he tried to pinpoint exactly what was wrong. After a short while, he shrugged his shoulders, and began to walk again.  
  
"I say the faster we're out of this damn forest, the better," muttered Gimli to the hobbits in front of him.  
  
"I've got it!" said Aragorn excitedly, suddenly stopping, causing Legolas to crash into him.  
  
"If you're going to stop, at least let us know!" said Legolas indignantly [A/N: See! Those stupid spelling/vocabulary tests from Lit class are helpful!!!]. "What have you got?" he asked, while rubbing at the pain in his head.  
  
"What's wrong with the forest! It doesn't have any-" Aragorn began.  
  
"We don't really care what's wrong with this forest! We just want to get out of it," interrupted Faramir.  
  
"Yes, so would you mind to keep going, unless you're lost, of course," taunted Legolas scornfully.  
  
"I am not lost! It's just that-" Aragorn tried again.  
  
"Then get us out of this bloody forest!!" yelled Gimli.  
  
"Fine!" Aragorn said in a huff, before beginning to walk again. (It's just that there aren't any normal forest sounds. No birds singing, nothing walking through the underbrush. But that might just be because Gimli scared them away…) mused Aragorn.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
At this point, the unknown someone whom was watching the Fellowship decided it was about time to stop the strangers who were in her forest. She already knew how many weapons they had, mostly swords. She wouldn't watch the ones with swords. Just the magick-user, and the one with the pointy ears, since he was carrying a bow and arrows.  
  
She silently crept closer, trying to find a good spot to jump out at them, and still be able to see all of them. She didn't want to have to shoot them, but if any of them threatened her, she would have to. It wasn't her fault that they were in her part of the forest, and she had to protect it. Otherwise who knew who would come in? Luckily her part of the forest wasn't as large as a certain person who she knew. She chuckled to herself. That person didn't know that there were people living on his land. And those people kind of looked like that archer, with pointy ears…  
  
Once she had found a good spot, she pulled an arrow from her quiver as quietly as the wind through the clouds. She notched the arrow on her bow, and waited for the group to get into a good place for her to be able to keep an eye on every one of them.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The members of the Fellowship were not enjoying the forest anymore. Not even Legolas, who was an elf, and elves love every forest, but not this one. This one was just net enjoyable.  
  
Aragorn wasn't enjoying it because no one was listening to what he was trying to say. Faramir didn't like it because Legolas was in a bad mood, and didn't seem to want to talk to him. Legolas hated it because of what had happened the night before with Aragorn. The hobbits didn't like it because they were hungry. Gimli hated it because it was a forest. And Gandalf wasn't enjoying it because he was still trying to figure out what was wrong with the forest, since he hadn't heard a word that Aragorn had said earlier.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Unknown Someone decided it was time to confront these strangers.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
TBC…..  
  
  
  
Well, how was it? Sorry if I jump around in tenses, I'm working on trying to stay in the same tense. Well, I'll be updating as soon as I can, but I plan to try to make it longer, to make up for the shortness of this one. R and R, please!!! 


	3. Looks Can Be Deceiving

Author's Notes: Well, hello again! How is everyone? Enjoying the fic? I hope so, because this chapter is a bit longer than the rest. Please r/r! And always remember, flamers will be pointed and laughed at. Thank you [bows].  
  
Oh, yes!! I also forgot to mention that I do not own the Fellowship (although, I would really like to own Legolas, hehe). I am just borrowing them for the length of this FanFic. But I do own all the unknown, never- before-heard-of characters.  
  
Thanks so much to Missy-Chan, snickas, Draco's love slave, and Lady Eowyn of Rohan for being such wonderful reviewers!! I love you guys!!  
  
"Blah" is normal speak; 'Blah' is in Elven; (Blah) is thoughts  
  
Chapter 3: Looks Can Be Deceiving  
  
"Hold!" yelled a girl to the Fellowship.  
  
"Holy shit!" said some one, as the Fellowship all attempted to draw their weapons. It's not like they hadn't been paying attention, it's just that the girl had just appeared out of thin air.  
  
"If any of you touches his sword, you'll have an arrow sticking out of your gut. Believe me, I don't miss," said the girl, who had an arrow pointed at the Fellowship.  
  
But Legolas had been able to draw and notch an arrow before the others had even been able to touch their swords. When he looked at the girl, he noticed that her eyes had never left him, not even when she was talking to the others. (She must think that the others aren't as much as a threat as I am. Well, she is far enough away to not get struck by a sword.) Legolas drew his bowstring back even tighter.  
  
"If you let that arrow fly, archer, then I shall be forced to do the same. And I have the feeling that you won't be able to dodge it, but I believe that I could dodge your poorly made arrow. Now, I've come to ask all of you why you are in my forest. If I believe you, I shall give you a guide out of my forest, since you have been traveling in circles all day." Faramir gave Aragorn a glare. "If I don't believe you, then your archer friend shall be the first to know what the after life looks like, followed by your magic- user. Then the rest of you shall die in whatever order I choose," said the girl.  
  
(She called me 'archer.' Does she not know that I am an elf?) thought Legolas, who had been the only one to catch that part. (But she does know that Gandalf is a magic-user. She must have been following us for a while.)  
  
"In our group we have the one Ring of Power, made by Sauron. We are bringing it to Mount Doom, to cast the Ring into its fiery depths," said Aragorn, since he was the leader of the Fellowship.  
  
The girl pulled her bowstring back further. "I'm sorry, I really don't want to have to kill that beautiful archer of yours, and he's very handsome. But that story is complete bull shit." The girl pulled the bowstring as far back as it would go. Legolas did the same with his bowstring, hoping that he could at least protect the others from this little monster, even if he was to die.  
  
"Wait!" cried Frodo, as he ran forward toward the girl. "Look! I have the Ring right-" he stopped when he saw that he had an arrow pointed at his nose.  
  
This was the girl's mistake. Once Frodo had distracted her and she had pointed the arrow at him, Legolas let his arrow fly. The girl realized what she had done when she heard Legolas' bowstring snap back. She shot her arrow, and reached her hand out, like she was trying to block the oncoming arrow.and caught it in her outstretched hand.  
  
She then quickly whipped the Elven arrow into place, notched on her bowstring. She had let her arrow fly, but had aimed for the ground, so that it didn't hit the hobbit in front of her. She didn't really want to hurt anyone; she just wanted them out of her forest.  
  
Legolas didn't even bother to draw another arrow. He knew that he had failed the Fellowship, and had not been able to help Frodo get to Mount Doom with the ring. When the Fellowship believed all hope was lost, the girl spoke.  
  
"It seems that we are at an impasse. Your archer cannot hurt me, but if you all ran at me at the same time, I would be able to only bring one or maybe two of you down, but you would be able to easily kill me. So, I shall put down my bow, and we shall call a truce. Anyways," she smiled. "I would not want to hurt any of you. It is not my way of doing things."  
  
She eased her bowstring back, and put Legolas' arrow in her quiver, then set her bow upon the forest floor and she took a few steps back from it. The Fellowship stared at her dumbfounded. Faramir was the first to come out of the daze, pulling his sword from its sheath, and placing it on the forest floor, in front of the girl's bow. Then Legolas placed his bow next to Faramir's sword, followed by the rest of the Fellowship placing their weapons next to the rest, and backing up.  
  
The girl smiled at the Fellowship. "I am called Lectra, or Dreaweil by some. You may call me by either."  
  
Aragorn took a step forward and bowed. "My name is Aragorn." He looked at the others. "This is Faramir." Faramir took a step forward and bowed deeply. "This is Legolas." Legolas stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin." Each gave a slight, awkward bow. "Gimli," Gimli nodded his head at her. "And our magic-user, Gandalf." Gandalf inclined his head even less then Gimli had.  
  
When Aragorn had finished his introductions, Lectra stepped forward, picked up her bow, and slung it over her shoulder. The Fellowship all picked up their own weapons and put them back in their sheaths. When Legolas saw that he wouldn't be getting back his arrow, he picked up the one that Lectra had shot at the ground and placed it in his quiver. "For friendship," said Lectra with a smile.  
  
"Yes, for friendship," Legolas replied.  
  
"Where did you say you were headed?" asked Lectra, after everyone had put away their weapons.  
  
"We're going to Mount Doom, which is in Mordor," said Aragorn.  
  
(Well, at least he's acting like a king today, unlike last night,) thought Legolas.  
  
"Oh, there could be a little problem with that," said Lectra grimly.  
  
"What? Can you not get to Mordor from here?" asked Faramir, hopefully.  
  
"No, no. You can get there from here easily. The Mordor boarder is the Southern boarder of my forest. So, that's not the problem. The *problem* is that no one in my forest will go near the boarder, let alone lead some one there," said Lectra.  
  
"Then how the hell are we suppose to get out of this bloody forest?" asked Gimli, louder then needed.  
  
"You mean that there are others in this forest?" asked Faramir, completely ignoring Gimli, like usual.  
  
"Yes, and no, Faramir. There are not others like myself in this forest, which I would never allow. But there are many forest creatures who would lead you out, if it was to another boarder," said Lectra in reply. "And Gimli, for all of you to get out of my forest, then we shall have to find you a suitable and willing guide."  
  
"But I thought you said." trailed off Aragorn.  
  
"I said that no one in my forest would, but I might be able to get someone from the bordering forest to. It might take awhile, but I never said it was impossible," said Lectra matter-of-factly.  
  
(She sounds like Gandalf.) thought Legolas, with a snicker under his breath.  
  
"How long do you think it will take to find a guide?" asked Gandalf, while the others all grumbled.  
  
"Well, if I send some one in all directions, then," mumbled Lectra. "Oh, about two days."  
  
"What? We can't wait that long! We've already spent too long in this damn forest!" yelled Gimli.  
  
"Well, excuse me. But that's how long it will take. And do remember that you are talking about *my* forest," stated Lectra, sharply.  
  
"Sorry," mumbled Gimli.  
  
Lectra then began to make sounds in a language no one recognized, while the Fellowship watched in amusement.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Frodo of Lectra, when she had paused for a breath.  
  
"Calling messengers," was her quick reply.  
  
But before any one could ask any more questions, the messengers arrived. One was a large falcon, almost as tall as Frodo. Another was a large salamander, which was the color of flames, and it let off slight warmth. The next messenger was a deer, which was taller than Aragorn. And the last messenger was an odd looking creature, that looked like a cross between a horse and a fish, and covered completely with scales.  
  
"What are all of those creatures?" asked Merry in awe.  
  
"The Falcon is just a giant falcon, and her name is Snowy, because of the white spots on her wings. The salamander is a Fire Drake, and his name is Flame. The deer is a great deer, and her name is Dawn. And the horse-fish is a hippocampus, and his name is Wave," explained Lectra, as she went to all of the creatures and gave them a hug.  
  
She then began to talk to each one in a soft voice, telling them to tell all the creatures of her forest that there was to be a meeting, and that everyone was to pass on the message. The four creatures each nodded when she was done telling them the message, and each took off in separate directions. While this was going on, the entire Fellowship was all watching in amused silence.  
  
"She's mental, she is. Probably spent to long alone here in the forest," Faramir murmured to Legolas, who chuckled softly.  
  
"I heard that, but I'll ignore it. For now," said Lectra quietly as she passed by Faramir, who looked very scared.  
  
"Well, come on. I'll bring you to a place where you can spend the night." And with that, Lectra started to walk back the way the Fellowship had come.  
  
"She is the only one who knows her way around here," said Legolas, as he started off after her, with the Fellowship following behind.  
  
Now that he didn't have to worry about have an arrow sticking out of his gut, Legolas was able to study this girl, who was their guide for the moment. She was wearing brown breeches, with a light green shirt and a dark green tunic over it, which both had leaf patterns on them. When Legolas looked at the whole outfit together, the girl would have almost looked like a tree, if she had been standing still.  
  
(So that's why we didn't see her. She blended in with the trees. And she does have the perfect figure to be thought of as a tree, if she was standing next to a path,) thought Legolas.  
  
The girl turned around to look at him, then slowed down a little, so that she was walking right next to him. Whenever she wasn't looking at the trail ahead of them, she was watching Legolas, almost as if she was studying him, the way he had been studying her. When she looked at him, Legolas noticed that there was some thing unusual about her eyes. It looked like they were almost changing colors. But he would need to get a better look at them to know for sure. The girl also had shoulder-length hair, which was the same color brown as her pants, and fell in front of her ears in a very pretty manner.  
  
(I must admit, she is pretty,) thought Legolas. [I know I kind of made Legolas sound gay, but I'm not quite sure what happened between him and Aragorn, because he won't tell me at the moment. He just says that it was 'bad'. Hopefully he will tell me soon.]  
  
"Lectra," said Faramir, breaking the silence. "Before you called Legolas 'archer.' Why did you call him that, instead of 'elf', as most people do?"  
  
(At least I'm not the only one who caught that,) thought Legolas.  
  
Lectra gave Legolas an odd look, before turning around to look at Faramir. "I called him 'archer' because that's what he is. He's your archer, is he not? I did not call him an elf, because I did not know he was an elf," was her answer.  
  
"But it is obvious that he is Elven. Everything about him shouts Elf," replied Aragorn with a slight crease to his forehead.  
  
"Looks can be deceiving," was all she said, softly.  
  
TBC.  
  
Did you like this chapter? I hope so; I worked a long time on it.well, not really. I can't back that up. And always remember that constructive criticism is always..constructive. Flamers will be pointed and laughed at (as always). I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please r/r!! 


	4. Dinner and Sleeping Accomidations

Hello everyone!! How are you this wonderful day? I hope all in well on your side of ff.net. Ok, here's Chapter 4 for you, along with it's many Author notes, which you can read if you want, but you don't have to. Please r/r, for me!! [Please note: all flames with be used to cook the Fellowship's breakfast.and maybe second breakfast too, if Pippin has his way. Thank you for listening.]  
  
Author's Notes: OK, I'm trying to answer all the questions that have been asked in the reviews (all one of them, lol). In answer to Lady Eowyn of Rohan's questions from the first chapter (sorry it took me this long to try and answer them!!), Aragorn and Arwen are still engaged, but I'm kind of sketchy on what happened between Legolas and Aragorn on that fateful night (he *still* won't tell me). But I know for a fact that Aragorn and Arwen are still a thing. Yes, Legolas and Faramir were plotting against Gimli, not anything else, as Aragorn thought. This story is to be a romance/action kind of thing. I personally have no idea where this is going; I don't even know how it's going to end (although I do have a slight idea). I'm just letting this story take it's own path. And the reason for Faramir being in the story is because I hate Boromir (is that spelt right??) and I enjoyed the fact that he became a pincushion in the movie, so I left it like that. I have just about completely thrown away the story, except for what happened in the first book/movie, since that's the only one that I some what know about. (I haven't read any of the books, although I am trying to get a copy of them so that I can write correctly.) I hope that answered all of your questions!!  
  
I do not own the Fellowship; I am just borrowing them for the length of this FanFic. But I do own all the unknown, never-before-heard-of characters.  
  
Thanks so much to Missy-Chan and slave2slimshady for being such wonderful reviewers and for being with me from the start!! You guys are awesome!! (Don't worry Missy; you're coming up soon. You're not in this chapter, nor will u be in the next one, but I think your person is going to be in either chapter 6 or 7, if I ever get that far. Although, for this chapter, Hellfire is in it [power to the little people]; happy?) (And Emily, if you really want to be in my story, email me a character analysis, and I shall consider it.)  
  
"Blah" is normal speak; 'Blah' is in Elven; {Blah} is thoughts  
  
Chapter 4: Dinner and Sleeping Accommodations  
  
For the second time while being in Lectra's presence, the Fellowship stood dumbfounded. But this time, it wasn't because of anything Lectra had said or done. Instead, it was because of what she had shown them.  
  
"You live here?" exclaimed an amazed Sam.  
  
"Yes, Samwise. I live here," said Lectra in a soft, subdued voice.  
  
"This is beautiful," said Gimli, then quickly added "for a forest, of course," just incase any one tried to quote him on it later.  
  
"I've seen every type of forest in Middle Earth, but I have never seen anything quite like this," murmured Legolas, while Faramir just stood there with his mouth hanging open like a hobbit in front of an all-you-can- eat buffet of mushrooms.  
  
In front of the Fellowship stood a small forest of magnificent things. There were trees of every shape and size, some in bloom, others with leaves of silvers, oranges, and reds. There was every bush, flower, and moss imaginable, some that the Fellowship knew the names of, others they had never seen before. And throughout the whole place ran a little river, which cascaded down rocks into a tiny pool, which had little patches of color moving around in it, which could only be fish. In the center of this tiny paradise there was a giant, old oak tree, with curtains of falling ivy vines hiding it's insides.  
  
"All of you shall also be staying here. Follow me," commanded Lectra softly.  
  
The Fellowship followed the forest girl down a path that was lined with flowers of every smell and color. The only sound was the falling waters and the songs of birds, for even Gimli strode lightly through this little piece of heaven. The group passed over the river on a little wooden bridge, and they could see deep into the clear water to the multi colored rocks at the bottom.  
  
"Don't wander off the paths," cautioned Lectra, even though it was obvious that the Fellowship would never even dream of simply bending the plants with a breath.  
  
When they came upon the old oak tree's ivy curtains, Lectra made a slight gesture with her hands, and the vines parted. She stood aside with her arm out, almost like she holding back the ivy, even though she wasn't touching the vines.  
  
Legolas and Faramir were the first to enter into the ivy's curtain, and both gasped audibly at what they saw. Inside of the giant living curtain was a completely different world. From the looks of it, the tree was where Lectra lived, with little alcoves curtained off by more ivy vines. But how she got up, they couldn't tell, since there were no steps going into the tree, and to get to the lowest branch, Legolas would have to stand on Faramir's shoulders and he would still have to jump. The path led to another, circular path, which looked like it went around the giant tree, with other paths leading off it through the curtain.  
  
Legolas started to take a step forward, when the silence was broken by Lectra screaming, "Don't touch that!!" but it was too late. Being a curious hobbit who happens to get into a lot of trouble, Pippin had wandered off of the well-worn path looking for mushrooms and other edibles. Luckily, he hadn't crushed any of the plants, but in his search, he had wandered towards the ivy curtain, and had brushed against it. This is when Lectra had yelled.  
  
But the warning had come too late, and as the other members of the Fellowship watched in transfixed horror, the ivy curtain came to life and wrapped around poor Pippin's legs and carried him up into the treetop.  
  
"I told him not to leave the path," muttered Lectra darkly as she watched new vines fall into the places of the ones that had carried Pippin away.  
  
"Where did he go?" asked a horrified Merry.  
  
"You can get him back, can't you?" asked an equally horrified Frodo.  
  
"He went up, can't you tell? Exactly where he went, I don't know. No one around here tells me where those who are caught go. But, don't worry, he'll show," stated Lectra. {Hopefully} she added to herself.  
  
"Well, come along," she said to the Fellowship, and, after what had happened, they stayed right behind her.  
  
She led them over to the trunk of the oak, which was even bigger then it had looked from next to the ivy curtain. And the lowest branch was even higher.  
  
"This is where you'll be sleeping tonight," Lectra said, indicating the tree branches.  
  
"Up there? I can't sleep in a tree!!" said Gimli, bordering on hysteria. (AN: Poor Gimli, ::snicker:: NOT!!)  
  
"How are we supposed to get up there? It's not possible!" said Aragorn, punctuated by murmurings from the others.  
  
Lectra making an odd gesture, in the direction of the old tree, cut everyone's mumblings off. Nothing seemed to happen.  
  
"Well?" said Gimli, after a pause.  
  
"Well what?" boomed a voice from near the tree, which caused the Fellowship (minus a hobbit) to all start in alarm, hands going to weapons. When nothing else happened, they all seemed to relax a little, but they all kept their hands on their weapons.  
  
"Well is anyone going to answer my question? Or did you just not hear me?" boomed the voice again.  
  
"It's all right, Father Oak, they heard you. You just started them," said Lectra loudly, almost like she was talking to someone who was hard of hearing.  
  
"Well I would say so! Look at those two little ones! They're as pale as birch bark!" The voice guffawed. "Now who's going to introduce these that stand so small at my feet?"  
  
"Of course, Father Oak. How silly of me to forget," Lectra looked at the Fellowship. "Well, introduce yourselves!" she snapped when no body moved.  
  
"B-but, to who, Lectra?" said Merry in a small voice.  
  
"Whom do you think to? Him, of course!" Lectra pointed at the tree. Then she realized why the others were so confused. "Father Oak, please show your self!" she said to the tree.  
  
"Why, I'm right here, youngling! You can see me perfectly well, and you know it," said the voice, which seemed to be coming from the tree itself.  
  
"My friends-" began Lectra.  
  
"Oh, yes! You have friends with you, don't you, darling?" Then, the oddest thing began to happen; the tree began to move it's bark around, making it look like it had eyes and a mouth! Then, as the Fellowship watched, the eyes became more definite and there was even a nose! And all of the cracks in the bark began to make it look like the wrinkles on an old man's face. When Legolas looked even closer at the old tree, he realized that it was an old man's face, long beard and all! Now he knew who Father Oak was, not a true man, but the old oak tree!  
  
"Thank you, Father Oak! These are my friends," Lectra introduced each person (except Pippin, who wasn't there). "My friends would like to sleep amongst your branches for the night," asked Lectra, but she was only answered by snoring. "Don't worry about that, he does it all the time. All it means is that I'll have to get you up, instead of having his help."  
  
"How are you going to-" said Faramir, but he was cut off by Lectra making a pulling motion.  
  
Doing this seemed to have no effect, but the Fellowship remembered what happened last time the girl gestured at something and nothing seemed to happen. They were rewarded by suddenly being lifted off the ground by ivy. But they all remembered what had happened to Pippin, and began to struggle in the vines' grasp.  
  
"Stop wriggling, or it will think you're an enemy, and then you'll get to find out where Pippin went," stated Lectra calmly, as the vines lifted her up, almost lovingly. It was obvious to everyone that the vines knew her, and would obey her, so they stopped struggling.  
  
The vines deposited the Fellowship on branches, none to gently. But the vines placed Lectra on one of the branches in the way a mother would place her baby into its crib. While the Fellowship put their scattered wits back in order, Lectra hopped energetically from branch to branch, making sure no body was permanently broken. Then she made another gesture, and the branches that everyone was on moved closer together. She then clapped her hands, and food floated up towards them. When Legolas looked underneath the trays of food, he saw little winged people. He nudged Lectra, who had ended up on his branch after checking on everyone. When she looked at him, he pointed to the little people, with a questioning look on his face, unable to talk because of all the magnificent food stuffed in his mouth.  
  
When Lectra figured out what he was pointing at, she giggled and said "Faeries," quite simply, as if that would explain it. When Legolas still had a questioning look on his face as he swallowed his food, Lectra giggled again and said, "Watch."  
  
She clapped her hands three times, and one of the trays was suddenly dropped clanging to the bottom of the tree, as a red and black blur came shooting out from underneath it. The little blur then came up to where the two were sitting, and stopped in front of Legolas' nose. When his eyes focused on the little creature in front of him, he saw that it was a little person, barely bigger than his palm, with dragonfly wings. The faerie was wearing black pants with a red tunic. The black in her pants were the same color as her raven hair, which fell down past the bottom of the tunic, which was the same color as her eyes.  
  
"This is Hellfire. Hellfire, this is Legolas," said Lectra, by way of introduction. Hellfire quickly flew around Legolas' head, stopping by his pointed ears. She flew over to Lectra, and said something in high-pitched gibberish. The faerie flew back over to Legolas' ear, and started to pull on it.  
  
"Hey! Watch it!" said Legolas, as he smacked his hand over his ear.  
  
The faerie flew back in front of Legolas' face and said something in gibberish to Lectra, while giving Legolas odd looks. Then the faerie stuck her tongue out at Legolas, and said something to Lectra again, which caused the girl to fall over backwards from laughing. But, since she was on a branch, there was nothing behind her to catch her from falling. Which meant that she fell off the branch, laughing. Legolas quickly leaned over, while still keeping his balance, hoping that Lectra had been quick enough to catch onto the side of the branch, and then he would be able to pull her up. But to his surprise, she had not. Instead, she had been caught by vines, which were now carrying her back up to the branch. She was still laughing, but she had the giggles under somewhat control. When the vines finally placed her back on the branch Legolas was on, Lectra was taking deep breaths to calm herself.  
  
"What's so funny?" asked Legolas, astounded.  
  
"Oh, nothing. It's just that Hellfire finds your ears interesting." She giggled again. "She, um, wants to know how long it took?" asked Lectra, attempting to keep a straight face.  
  
"How long?" asked Legolas.  
  
"Yes, she wants to know how long it took your mother to pull your ears into that shape? Hellfire admires mischievous people, and she believes that if your mother pulled on your ears so much that they stayed that way, then you must have gotten into a lot of trouble!" Lectra began laughing again, so much that she almost fell over again, causing Legolas to catch her before she fell.  
  
"Thank you," said Lectra, with Legolas gazing deeply into her deep green eyes. Legolas quickly broke the contact when he realized how close they had been. Hellfire began another high pitched screeching that could only be the faerie's form of laughing, when she saw how red Legolas' cheeks were.  
  
"Oh shut up, you stupid little insect," mumbled Legolas as he swatted at the little person. Hellfire immediately stopped laughing, and began to glow a fiery red as she glared at the Elven archer.  
  
"Bad idea!" muttered Lectra, as she leaned away from the angry faerie and its target.  
  
Soon Legolas found out why. The red and black faerie began to dive bomb Legolas' head, until he threw his arms over his head in attempt to protect it. But, he left his nose uncovered, which the faerie aimed for. She thoroughly bit down hard on his nose, getting a very loud "OUCH!" from Legolas, and then she gave a faerie's equivalent of "So there" and flew off.  
  
"I don't suggest upsetting any more faeries here," said Lectra in way of apology.  
  
"Or touch vines," he muttered back as he rubbed his wincing nose.  
  
"I can heal that, if you want me to. I know what it's like to be bitten by a faerie," Lectra said softly.  
  
Once Legolas nodded his consent, Lectra reached out her hand to touch his nose. "Ow!" he yelped.  
  
"Sorry, but I have to be in contact with it to heal it," she said, as she tentatively reached for his red nose again. This time he didn't pull back, but by the grimace on his face, it hurt. A lot.  
  
Lectra muttered a single word in a language Legolas had never heard before. Then a soft blue light began to transcend her arm, showing through the green fabric of her shirt. The light moved into her hand, and then past her fingers into Legolas' nose, which began to tingle slightly. Then the light went back into Lectra's arm, leaving Legolas' nose feeling warm, in a nice kind of way.  
  
"Better?" asked Lectra, while Legolas gingerly touched his nose. When he didn't flinch at his own touch, Lectra touched Legolas' nose also, inspecting her work. She nodded, and gave a satisfied smile. "Good. Now, you should eat something, while I get Father Oak to make enough rooms for all of you," and with that she leaped off their branch onto the branches below them, until she was close enough to the tree's face to talk to him.  
  
Meanwhile, some faeries brought food up to Legolas, as soon as Lectra leapt from the branch. Legolas remembered to thank the little people underneath each tray, every time he took food off of one of the trays. When he was done eating, his branch began to move, almost like it knew he was done. The branch brought him up to a section of the tree that was curtained off by ivy. He hesitated when the branch stopped, because he did not want to touch the ivy curtain, but the vines moved aside when he approached them.  
  
Inside looked like a bedroom, with two moss beds. The bed nearest the door was empty, but the other bed contained.  
  
"Aragorn." Legolas spit the name out like it was something foul. "Why do I always end up having to share a room with you?"  
  
"It was not of my picking this time. I think our little hostess knows more about us and our arguments then she lets us believe," said Aragorn.  
  
"And why would you say that?" asked Legolas as he sat down on the surprisingly comfy bed.  
  
Aragorn laughed at the amazed look on Legolas' face. "Comfy, isn't it?" He smiled in a way that made Legolas feel uncomfortable. "To answer your question, she put the two of us together, the three hobbits together, Gandalf has his own room, and Gimli and Faramir are in another. Also, we are trapped in here, unless you want to risk touching the ivy," Aragorn said all of this lying down, with his hands behind his head, like it was nothing to him.  
  
Legolas looked questioningly at Aragorn, who waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the curtains that Legolas had come through. Legolas walked over to the vines expecting them to open for him when he approached. But when he got closer, and they didn't open, he began to turn back, until they began to open. He smirked over his shoulder at Aragorn and walked towards the open curtains, when he bashed into Lectra, who had been walking in. Instinctively, he reached out to steady her, but ended up staring into deep brown eyes, which belong to Lectra.  
  
{How odd, her eyes were green before} thought Legolas, who quickly broke the contact between himself and Lectra when he heard Aragorn snickering behind him. Legolas quickly turned himself around, and sat on the moss bed, all the while glaring at Aragorn.  
  
"I came to tell you two that you are not to go wandering around tonight without me going with you, or to make too much noise, because Father Oak is a light sleeper. Good night," said Lectra as she walked back along the branch to the ivy curtain.  
  
"Why do you call him 'Father' Oak?" questioned Aragorn before she had passed the vines.  
  
"I call him that because he treats me as I believe a father should treat a daughter, and he is also the oldest tree in this forest. Anyways, all the other forest plants call him that, and I just picked up on the term. Goodnight," she repeated, as she turned around again, and the vines fell down behind her, locking in the Elven Prince and future Human King.  
  
TBC..  
  
  
  
SOOO!!! What did you guys think? Was it good, bad, or in-between? I really would like to know what you thought. I would luv it if everyone gave me at least one piece of advice; even if it's just what you think needs to be worked on. I don't care if you tell me what you think it should be changed to, I just like the fact that people are really paying attention to what I'm writing. So, please R and R!!  
  
And always remember: keep writing, reach for the stars, and if you can't reach them, write about them!! Tootles!! ~Shadow~ ^_^ 


End file.
